“Predatorgate,” created by developers Izzy Fiacco and Z. Daniel Barnett, has won the top prize in Floodlight Gaming’s second investigative journalism game jam. The winning team will receive $5,000 and a spot in SpielFabrique’s Launchpad Program, which offers individualized industry mentoring and support.
The winner was announced on June 2nd at INDIGO, a Benelux games industry conference held in Rotterdam.
Floodlight Gaming’s goal is to help media outlets engage new audiences and deepen the public’s understanding of complex topics through games. This edition of the investigative journalism game jam challenged developers to build interactive, in-browser games directly from published reporting. Developers were given access to a catalog of investigative stories and had the opportunity to ask questions of the journalists behind the reporting.
“Collaboration between the game creators and the journalists ensures that while developers enjoy full creative freedom, the resulting games remain grounded in the integrity of the original reporting,” said Floodlight Gaming and OCCRP Co-Founder Paul Radu. “We were profoundly impressed with the games submitted for this game jam, and we look forward to helping connect many of the games with the media outlets behind the reporting.”
Gaming industry judges praised “Predatorgate” as “an interesting and captivating story,” noting that its aesthetic and pacing reminded them of “a gritty graphic novel.” In the game, the player assumes the role of an investigator trying to put together the mechanics of the Predator spyware network by auditing emails, financial statements, leaked articles, and hidden documents.
“We’re delighted to see our investigation get another life in a video game and that ‘Predatorgate’ was chosen as the winner,” said Inside Story journalist Eliza Triantafillou, who reported the story with Tasos Telloglou. “Our story is based on a multi-year, complex investigative report on illegal spyware surveillance of Greek journalists, ministers, opposition politicians, judges — it is widely regarded as one of the greatest scandals in recent Greek history.”
“I was thoroughly impressed by Inside Story’s reporting, it was so detailed and a lot of the documents used in the reporting were there in the articles,” said game developer Izzy Fiacco, who spearheaded the design, art, writing, and programming of “Predatorgate.”
“Jams like these are fantastic, especially something like the Floodlight Game Jam, where you’re taking breaking news and turning it into an interactive experience within a few months,” he said.
“I was an investigative political journalist for 12 years,” said game developer Z. Daniel Barnett, who worked on the sound design, music, and voice of the winning game. “In many ways, this game is a love letter to old school journalism.”
Game jam finalists included: “He Was Here Yesterday,” by developers Mia Davey and Lukasz Piotrak, based on reporting by freelance journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, and “Influence,” by developers Pol Grasland-Mongrain, Pierre Dupiat, and Julie Dupiat, based on reporting by Rafael Olavarria of Factchequeado.
Floodlight Gaming is an initiative of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Gabo Foundation, in partnership with Anima Interactive, V Ventures, Good Game Generation, Pulitzer Center, ZAM, INDIGO, Games for Change, International Game Developers Association, Global Game Jam, and CCIJ.